If you had been hoping to get lunch Monday at Chipotle, you were out of luck. The restaurant chain shut down all of its stores across the country for several hours after several outbreaks of illness were linked to their food.
All Chipotle Mexican Grills, including the 8 in middle Tennessee closed Monday for what a company spokesman called "a national team meeting" to "discuss some of the food safety changes" Chipotle is "implementing."
This came after 60 people reported getting sick late last year during two separate outbreaks of e-coli infections that were traced back to Chipotle's restaurants.
The first outbreak was reported in October of last year and affected 11 states: California, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Then in December, another outbreak of a different strain of e-coli hit Chipotle in three additional states: Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
Extensive testing by federal investigators though never could pinpoint the exact cause of the contamination..
Now to be clear, no one reported getting sick from eating at any of the Chipotle restaurants here in middle Tennessee.
And health inspectors have found no major problems during their recent routine visits to the four Chipotles in Nashville, two in Williamson County, one in Clarksville, and one in Murfreesboro. We got copies of their most recent inspections all done within the last six months.
Most of the restaurants got perfect or near perfect scores. The only critical violations were at the Franklin location where the storage area for the lettuce wasn't cold enough, and in Nashville, on White Bridge Road, where a liquid cleaner was in a bottle that wasn't properly labeled. Inspectors noted that both problems were fixed immediately.
All Chipotle restaurants re-opened Monday at 3 p.m. after the training session. Meanwhile, the company announced changes designed to improve food safety and prevent any future outbreaks.
The company also says it will be launching several new promotions, including food giveaways, hoping to encourage customers to come back.
